Kings takeaways: What we learned from 117-104 win over Suns in Sacramento

Kings takeaways: What we learned from 117-104 win over Suns in Sacramento

SACRAMENTO -- Home is where the heart is. The Sacramento Kings made quick work of the spiraling Phoenix Suns Sunday at Golden 1 Center, running away for a 117-104 win for their 30th victory of the season.

Devin Booker, Josh Jackson and Deandre Ayton all put up numbers, but it wasn’t nearly enough to help Phoenix avoid their 14th consecutive loss.

Here are three takeaways as the Kings finished the homestand 5-1 and improved to 30-26 on the season.

No. 1 vs. No. 2

Deandre Ayton and Marvin Bagley will forever be connected. Not only did the pair play on the same high school team for a stint, but they also went with the top two selections in the 2018 NBA Draft.

Bagley missed the first two matchups between the two teams, but he was ready to go Sunday at Golden 1. The 19-year-old was aggressive on the offensive end, scoring a new career-high 30 points on 10-for-15 shooting. He added seven rebounds, a block and a steal in the win.

Making a Move

The Kings continued their hot streak at home. With the win, they climbed four games over the .500 mark for the first time since 2016.

Sacramento currently sits a half game behind the Los Angeles Clippers for the eighth best record in the Western Conference standings. With a Lakers loss earlier in the day, the Kings pulled two games ahead of the 10th spot.

Coach Dave Joerger’s group has already surpassed their win total of 27 from last season.

Can Kings' Bogdan Bogdanovic bring World Cup stardom back to Sacramento?

Can Kings' Bogdan Bogdanovic bring World Cup stardom back to Sacramento?

Serbia finished off their 2019 FIBA World Cup run Saturday morning with a 90-81 victory over the Czech Republic. A fifth-place finish is not what the Serbs were hoping for when they entered the field in China. It was a disappointing showing for a team that came into the tournament with visions of gold.

Losses to perennial international powerhouses in Spain and Argentina proved to be the undoing of Serbia, but it wasn’t for a lack of effort from Sacramento Kings wing Bogdan Bogdanovic. In fact, the 27-year-old has been the talk of the tournament, despite his team’s early exit.

For the tournament, the smooth shooting guard averaged 22.9 points, 4.4 assists and 4.1 rebounds in 28 minutes per game. During his team’s eight contests, Bogdanovic knocked down 35-of-66 (53 percent) attempts from behind the arc and ran an incredible +100 overall in the plus/minus category.

Bogdanovic was the star of his team and possibly even the MVP of the tournament. He took ownership of his team and put on a show. More importantly for his team back in the NBA, he escaped the tournament without injury and looks ready to take another big step forward in his third season in the league.

It’s possible Bogdanovic will need to take it easy through training camp and the preseason schedule as he recovers not only from the World Cup, but the extreme travel schedule. He’ll fly to Sacramento and then back to India in the first week of October for the Kings’ preseason matchups against the Indiana Pacers.

The Kings have undoubtedly kept a close eye on Bogdanovic throughout the tournament to ensure that he returns to the States in good health, and they have to love what they are seeing on the court. Luke Walton is still learning his players, but like everyone else in Sacramento, he has to wonder if Bogdanovic can translate his international success to another step forward with the Kings.

This is the third straight summer Bogdnaovic has come to the Kings after playing in international competition. His rookie season in the league, Bogdanovic looked worn out early in the year as he adjusted to a new league. In his sophomore season, Bogdanovic missed 11 of the first 12 games after sustaining an injury during the EuroBasket tournament, undergoing knee surgery at the start of camp.

Now fully healthy, Bogdanovic will enter camp competing for minutes in a crowded rotation in Sacramento. The early plan is likely for Bogdanovic to be a key component in the second unit. He’ll have an opportunity to be an offensive leader of the group with veterans like Cory Joseph, Trevor Ariza and Nemanja Bjelcia flanking him.

How good can Bogdanovic be? It’s a question the Kings are anxious to learn.

He’s often drawn comparisons to former San Antonio Spurs star Manu Ginobili, who spent years coming off the bench for Gregg Popovich’s club. Like Bogdanovic, Ginobili continued to star in international play as well as with his team in the NBA.

Prior to his third NBA season, a 27-year-old Ginobili led Argentina to a gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. That experience appeared to work as a catalyst for the player Ginobili became in the NBA.

He would go on to make the All-Star team for the first time during the 2004-05 season and he became a vital member of a perennial championship contender in San Antonio.

The Kings can only hope that Bogdanovic will have a similar career trajectory to Ginobili’s. With any luck, his latest experience in World Cup play will give him the confidence to be a more assertive NBA player and to take ownership of the Kings like he has with the Serbian national team.

Kings player profile: Where does Trevor Ariza fit into crowded rotation?

Kings player profile: Where does Trevor Ariza fit into crowded rotation?

Every year the Sacramento Kings bring in a veteran leader or two with the hopes that they will help stabilize the youth of the team and further build the culture behind the scenes. Garrett Temple, Vince Carter, Zach Randolph and George Hill are just a few names that come to mind and now, Trevor Ariza has joined the list.

At 34-years-old, Ariza showed that he had plenty left in the tank after being traded to the Washington Wizards last season. He put up solid numbers and despite playing in his 15th NBA season, he managed to log 34 minutes per game in 69 total contests with the Wizards and Suns.

Vlade Divac inked Ariza to a two-year, $25 million deal, although the second season has just $1.8 million guaranteed. Ariza can still play, but is this finally the season he sees a reduced role?

It’s a crowded roster in Sacramento and Luke Walton has his work cut out for him. Here is a look at where Ariza fits into the grand scheme of things when training camp opens later this month.

Strengths

The veteran 3-and-D wing has made a nice living on the perimeter for a decade and a half. At 6-foot-8, 215 pounds, he has great size and length at the small forward position and he’s proven to be extremely durable throughout his long NBA career.

As a scorer, Ariza shot 434 three-pointers in 69 games last season, which would have placed him behind only Buddy Hield on the Kings’ roster. Ariza knocked down just 33.4 percent from deep on the season, but he is a career 35.1 percent shooter from behind the arc and playing fewer minutes may help him improve his accuracy numbers.

Outside of shooting the deep ball, Ariza hit 61.1 percent at the rim on 193 attempts. His 3-point attempts and shots at the rim accounted for 627 of his 736 shot attempts. 55.2 percent of Ariza’s shot attempts come without a dribble, mostly as a catch and shoot launcher from long range. He knows exactly who he is as a scorer and he stays in his lane.

While he hasn’t been asked to facilitate the offense in most of his stops, Ariza showed that he was capable of setting up his teammates last year. He averaged 3.7 assists per game on the season, which is 1.5 assists more than his career average of 2.2.

Ariza averages 1.5 steals per game for his career and posted 1.2 steals per game last season. He’s a long defender that has historically caused plenty of issues on the perimeter.

Weaknesses

There comes a point in every player’s career when the game catches up and then passes them. It may not come this season for Ariza, but he’s played over 1100 games between the regular season and postseason and the Kings’ frenetic pace can take the wind out of a 20-year-old, let alone someone who opens the season at 34.

Known as a strong perimeter defender throughout his career, Ariza struggled last season with both the Suns and the Wizards. It’s hard to know whether that was due to the players around him, the system they played in or if father time finally came calling. It might be a combination of all three.

Ariza allowed his opponent to shoot 8.8 percent higher than league average, including 4.3 percent higher on 3-point attempts and 12.8 percent inside the arc. That’s just not going to fly.

His 2017-18 numbers with the Houston Rockets were very good, which is promising. It should also be noted that the Wizards and Suns ranked 28th and 29th in the league in defensive rating last season and were in the bottom three in the league in points allowed per game.

Ariza was a very solid rebounder as a young player, but his numbers have dipped as he’s moved further away from the rim. He also doesn’t draw fouls at a high rate, which is a trend amongst many of the Kings players.

Path to Improvement

It’s pretty simple. Ariza needs to do what he’s done throughout his career - play solid defense and stick the three-point shot.

He isn’t going to play 34 minutes per game in Sacramento, so he should be fresh and ready when he comes in. The Kings might not ask him to be the facilitator he was last season, but having another willing passer on the floor is always a good thing.

Luke Walton needs Ariza to be a vocal leader on the defensive side of the ball. If he can get back to the player he was during the 2017-18 season, he should help shore up a lot of the issues the Kings’ second unit had last season.

Projection

Ariza had to know when he signed his deal with Sacramento that he wasn’t going to play 34 minutes per game as he has throughout his long NBA career. That doesn’t mean he can’t be an extremely effective NBA player and maybe even stretch out his career a few more years.

Walton has a ton of bodies to work with at the three. Harrison Barnes will play the majority of the minutes, but Bogdan Bogdanovic will need to steal time at the wing as well. Barnes will likely play 20 minutes at the small forward spot and another 10-12 at the four. Bogdanovic will eat around 16 minutes at the two and need another 10-12 at the three.

That doesn’t leave a lot of time for Ariza. It’s possible that Walton gets creative with his rotations and plays a lot of small ball, but it would be surprising to see Ariza on the court for more than 16-18 minutes per game.

A conservative look has him averaging around seven points, three rebounds and two assists in 16 minutes per game. Sacramento is spending a lot on a player that might have a limited role with the team, but his value to the team goes beyond the numbers as a veteran leader.